Ulysses and Sirens John William Waterhouse

Ulysses and the Sirens by Pre-Raphaelite painter John William Waterhouse, oil on canvas 1891, depicts the dangerous beauties from Greek mythology whose enchanting songs lured passing sailors to shipwreck and death. The hero Ulysses (Odysseus) from Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey had his men plug their ears with beeswax and lash himself to the mast of his ship while passing through the Sirens’ song. Waterhouse depicts the mythical Sirens as enormous black birds with beautiful female heads swarming over a bright azure sea. This painting reflects the pre-Raphaelite painters’ emphasis on brilliant, jewel-like colours in mediaeval and early Renaissance compositional styles, combined here with painterly influences from the schools of Romanticism and Impressionism. John William Waterhouse (1849 - 1917) was an English painter of the Pre-Raphaelite school of the late 19th century. After studying at the British Royal Academy of Art, Waterhouse painted classical scenes from ancient Greek mythology, gradually acquiring the stylistic traits of the Pre-Raphaelites as well as the painterly qualities of the French Impressionists. Though overshadowed by the more famous members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Waterhouse exhibited with great success and produced many paintings with themes of female figures from mythology and the legends of King Arthur.